Good Times...

I'm home again after being gone for almost a week.  I left very early (so early it was still dark) last Thursday for Whim So Doodle to teach my last classes of 2013.

On one hand I'm happy to be home, and on the other, I will miss being in stores and meeting new friends.  I will also miss teaching these three classes, especially the Gilded Christmas Box.  It is almost magical how it starts from a plain configurations box and turns into a little wonderland.  Although I have to admit, the best part is at the end when they each plug in the lantern.  Everyone is delighted!

I have never been to Whim So Doodle before although I have known the owner Jill since we met way back in 2010 at Ranger U.  Her shop is quite amazing.  I have never seen this many Stamper Anonymous sets in one place.  Wow!  I sure wish this was my local scrapbook store, as they have stamps...

 and dies,

 idea-ology galore!  And stencils - they had stencils...so hard to come by.

And art supplies.  From Ranger to Catalyst to Faber Castell all in one place.  You can see it, read the label, talk to someone about it and take a class or two using it.  That's a great store.  This is a must stop for anyone flying in or out of Tampa (about 30 minutes from the airport), in St. Petersburg, just a few blocks from the marina.

 Oh and I almost forgot, giftware too! Amazing, amazing store.

As I said, I taught 3 classes at Whim So Doodle.
The Live Configurations Book, Christmas Burlap Panel and the Gilded Christmas box.  So many nice ladies in the classes...Sue, Fay, Pat, Lori, Cindy and Carol, Suzette and Rachel, Jan and Jenny, Angela, Heather, and many more.   Thank you for being so kind and great to work with! 
We moved along at a good pace and everyone went home with a finished project in every single class.  I love that!

I thought I would share the Burlap Panel we made.  If you are interested, the products needed to make the panel, they can be found at the end of this post.  Easy to make - you just need a bit of chipboard for the foundation and the squares.
The tutorial for the little door can be found here.

Again, thanks to Jill for inviting me to Whim So Doodle.  I am sure I will be back in 2014!

The second half of my trip involved a stop over in Arizona for a production meeting at Tim's house (thank you Mario for the ride up the hill - always a pleasure to be in your company!).   I always love coming here, but especially at Christmas time when the house is decorated.  How lucky am I?
 
We had our meeting, planned the CHA make and take, worked on our plans for the CHA booth, ate some great food, and shopped for some wacky presents (when school gets out next week, my nephew and I will be making Ninja-bread cookies).  I have learned to never underestimate Walgreens for kooky presents.  Thank You Tim for this valuable lesson, lol.

 Mario even made me some lovely hot apple cider - seriously, who makes a drink that looks so good?

We also did a little junk shopping in downtown Prescott with friends.  That's my feet on the right.  And yes, that is snow on the ground.

Favorite stop?  Cortez Street Emporium.  They had an amazing wall of letters at very good prices.

 So that's it for this trip.  Again, glad to be home for a few days to get some work done.  December is always a challenging month to keep up with everything - projects for the blog as well as secret CHA stuff going on right now.  It's like you need two work spaces...one for things to show now, and one for things to show later! What a great problem to have!
One of the highlights of my job is working with the designers who create the show samples for us.  The 2014 release is amazing and they are really working hard to make samples that will show off the new paper and products.  Only a few more weeks till the sneak peaks start.  Exciting times!

Now carry on,
paula

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